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Mills College

Oakland, California

https://www.mills.edu

#330 National Colleges

75.85% Admission Rate
Least Selective

699 Undergraduates Enrolled

  • Private nonprofit
  • Master's Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs
  • Four-year, full-time, inclusive, higher transfer-in
  • Four-year, small, highly residential
  • Women-Only College
Mills College is a private women's liberal arts college in Oakland, California. Mills is an undergraduate women's college for women and gender non-binary students with graduate programs for students of all genders. Mills was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in 1871, and became the first women's college west of the Rockies. In 2014, Mills became the first single-sex college in the U.S. to adopt an admission policy explicitly welcoming transgender students.

Mills College offers more than 45 undergraduate majors and minors and over 30 graduate degrees, certificates, and credentials. It is home to the Mills College School of Education and the Lorry I. Lokey School of Business & Public Policy.

In March 2021, citing financial concerns that were augmented by the pandemic, President Elizabeth L. Hillman announced that Mills College would begin transitioning away from being a degree-granting college in the fall of 2021, instead becoming Mills Institute. The announcement was made to the Mills College alumnae in a letter posted online.

In June 2021, following interest in merging with UC Berkeley by some Mills College alumnae, the college instead announced that it intended to merge with Northeastern University (a once all-male college that admitted its first female students in 1943) to become Mills College at Northeastern University.

Despite a campaign by Mills College alumnae to stop the controversial merger with Northeastern University and a temporary stay imposed by a judge, the merger was confirmed by the Mills College Board of Trustees on September 14, 2021. President Hillman's role in the new Institution has not yet been announced.

Mills College alumnae, who have donated a considerable portion of the college's endowment, continue to pursue legal options for halting the merger with Northeastern while they fight for financial transparency and a financial rationale for the immediacy of the merger, given the college's billions of dollars in assets, including Bay Area real estate, rare books, and a valuable art collection that is housed by the Mills College Art Museum. Uncertainty remains regarding institutional control of Mills College's considerable financial assets. No financial details regarding the impending merger have been made public to date.

"Mills College." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 February 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mills_College.
Location

City
Oakland, California

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Locale
City: Large (population of 250,000 or more)

Region
Far West (AK, CA, HI, NV, OR, WA)

Academics

Predominant Degree Awarded
Predominantly bachelor's-degree granting

Highest Degree Awarded
Graduate degree

Most Popular Fields

Field % Students
Social Sciences 24.2%
Visual And Performing Arts 12.4%
English Language And Literature/Letters 10.6%
Psychology 8.1%
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 7.5%
Biological And Biomedical Sciences 5.0%
Family And Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences 5.0%
Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender, And Group Studies 5.0%
Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services 4.4%
Mathematics And Statistics 3.7%
Public Administration And Social Service Professions 3.1%
Physical Sciences 3.1%
History 1.9%
Computer And Information Sciences And Support Services 1.9%
Natural Resources And Conservation 1.9%
Philosophy And Religious Studies 1.2%
Liberal Arts And Sciences, General Studies And Humanities 1.2%

Cost

Tuition
$30,877.00

Percentage Students Receiving Aid
62.85%

Average Net Cost After Aid
$22,202.00

Admissions

SAT Scores

1162 Composite Average
Percentile 75% 50% 25%
Math 615 558 500
Verbal 675 590 505

ACT Scores

24 Cumulative Average
Percentile 75% 50% 25%
Math 25 22 18
English 32 27 21